Plates get the attention, but it is the screws that hold them. A plate construct is only as reliable as the purchase its cortical screws find in the shaft, and screw selection — diameter for the plate and the bone, length for the corridor, count for the load — is where fixation planning becomes concrete.
In lag technique the same screw does a second job: drilled through a gliding hole in the near fragment and threaded into the far one, it converts tightening torque into direct compression across the fracture line. Cortical screws serve both roles across the trauma systems this range supports. Diameter, length and technique remain selections of the operating surgeon.
